George Bell & Sons was founded by
George Bell as an educational bookseller, with the intention of selling the output of London university presses; but became best known as an independent publisher of
classics and
children's books.
One of Bell's first investments in publishing was a series of Railway Companions; that is, booklets of timetables and tourist guides. Within a year Bell's publishing business had outstripped his retail business, and he elected to move from his original offices into
Fleet Street. There G. Bell & Sons branched into the publication of books on
art,
architecture, and
archaeology, in addition to the
classics for which the company was already known. Bell's reputation was only improved by his association with
Henry Cole.
In the mid-1850s, Bell expanded again, printing the children's books of
Margaret Gatty (Parables from Nature) and
Juliana Horatia Ewing (the Nursery Magazine). Around the same time, in 1854, he acquired J. & J. J. Deighton, a bookseller's outfit in
Cambridge, which thereupon changed its name to
Deighton, Bell, & Company.[1] Then, in 1856, Bell brought on board as a partner Frederick Daldy, and renamed the company Bell & Daldy.
With Daldy, Bell began to print more poetry collections, including the Aldine Edition of British Poets and the works of
Andrew Lang and
Robert Bridges. To the firm's educational output was added
Webster's Dictionary, after Bell acquired the British rights to Webster's work. Then, Bell & Daldy took over the libraries of
Henry George Bohn, a
Covent Garden publisher, and moved their operation to Bohn's former location.[2] With such an extensive library available for publication, Bell's original retail location in Fleet Street was no longer necessary; the firm moved out of Fleet Street for good in 1867.
Daldy left the firm (renamed George Bell & Sons) in 1873, to join the firm of Virtue, Spalding, & Daldy. In 1888, Bell left the piloting of the firm to his sons, Edward and
Ernest, but maintained a healthy interest in its day-to-day operation until his death in 1890. In 1910 the firm became a
limited liability company, George Bell & Sons, Ltd.
In 1926 Edward Bell died; his son Arthur took his place on the board and became chairman himself in 1936. Other members of the board gradually took over the operation of the firm, until Arthur's death in 1968. In 1977,
Robin Philip Hyman became the managing director of Bell & Hyman, Ltd., and the firm moved to Queen Elizabeth Street, London, where it remained until going out of business. In 1986, Bell & Hyman Ltd merged with
George Allen & Unwin to form Unwin Hyman. Unwin Hyman was acquired by
HarperCollins in 1990.[3][4]
George Bell's brother John also worked for the Bell firm; John managed the Chiswick Press until his death in 1885.
1864: Acquired 4 York Street,
Covent Garden. This location had quite a pedigree: The previous occupant of these houses was the publishing company of
Henry George Bohn; before that they had belonged to the bookseller J. H. Bohte, who specialized in classics; and before that (though not immediately before) they had been the home of
Thomas de Quincey.[5]
1867: Moved out of Fleet Street
1903: York House, 6 Portugal Street, WC2 designed for George Bell & Sons by
Horace Field[6]
^
abcdefgh(Publisher's advertisement), in: J. Livingstone, National Union of Teachers Conference Cambridge Souvenir, Cambridge University Press, 1928. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
^Display advertisement, The Observer, 6 December 1908, p. 4.
Further reading
Edward Bell, George Bell, Publisher: A Brief Memoir, London: Printed for private circulation by the Chiswick Press, 1924.
Marjory Long, "George Bell and Sons", in: Patricia J. Anderson and Jonathan Rose, eds., Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 106: British Literary Publishing Houses, 1820-1880, Detroit and London: Gale, 1991, pp. 22-31.